PKI Smoking Ban?

At the ACE winter meeting yesterday, Maureen Kaiser spoke about IJST and showed her now famous DVD (made with Jeff Siebert). She also dropped a hint at something that may come to PKI in 2005. She said there were more announcements to be made, "possibly within the next week." She said we'd enjoy these additions that would "help us eat better, help us breathe better."

So will PKI be a smoke-free environment next year? Talk amongst yourselves.

That Brady thing was awesome wasn't it? ;-) I am still LMAO.

I am all for a "smoke-free environment" at any park.

-Tina

I'm all for it and the "designated smoking areas." Now if parks would do a better job of policing queues, that would be great. That, and I find it a little weird that someone would be smoking in the SOB line surrounded by that much flammable material.

Sesame Place (although a smaller park than many large chains) has two "designated smoking areas" in the park. It seems to work pretty well, although you still have your people that don't care and light up in the middle of the park. But there always will be those people, you just have to keep at it by telling them that they can't smoke there, and point out where the smoking areas are at. But I do think it's a great idea.

I thought that's what I heard her say. That would be the most welcome addition to PKI ever! (IMHO) I think this would be rough to enforce. PKI always has a ton of smokers.

My wife and I chuckled at the Italian Job tour last month when someone lit up. We suddenly felt like it was a summer day at PKI. Ah, the stench of cigarette smoke...

I love Maureen. She is such a wonderful, stunning, beautiful woman.

But I'm off the market

So once this whole thing with smoking plays out and cigarettes disappear from the face of the Earth, what little habit will we demonize?

It really makes me feel old sometimes that I can clearly remember when smoking in airplanes and malls and stuff was allowed. (and somehow 1990 doesn't feel like that long ago)

Now outdoor environments limit the practice.

Funny how things change. :)

Disneyland has been doing this for a long time (using designated areas for smoking). It seems to work pretty well. While you can't force everyone to use them, it seems like there are very few (if any) people smoking in queues or pathways. Seems like a good move for PKI.

I heard that on the tour of PKD last week they announced that that park is going smoke free this coming season, so it would stand to reason that the whole chain may do that.

I agree that no one should smoke in a queue line, but outdoors in the wide open? those who complain of that should never burn their burnable trash, should nevr build a campfire, should never go to a party with a bon fire.

Cause if cigarette smoking kills you as you stand out in the wide open, then you should probably fall over dead next to a camp fire. sorry, I'm not even a smoker, just seems like a sissy thing to cry over since the non smokers will not win the battle over the smokers.

Cripes your outdoors, I could see if you were standing in line or in a house or something, but out in the wide open? words of advice, never go camping, never burn your burnables because you'll probably collapse in the shear terror of the dreaded smoke.

Kings Dominion is doing that this year and Michael from the park informed us that the whole chain was going through with it, so expect a smoke free park.

So expect a lot of smoking at the park entrance now. I'll bring a gas mask ;)

I suppose they'll have to pull aside alot of potential guests who smoke upon finding any tobacco products in their bags during the security screening upon entering the park.

It's one thing to have a smoking ban in all eating establishments,ride queues,childrens area's & for obvious reasons the waterpark(which I'm in favor of) but it's another thing to try to ban smoking when walking down the midway of the park especially when it's an outdoor enviornment so the health risks are not as severe is if it were in an enclosed space such as an indoor eating establishment.

Its a little different with cigarette smoke, lakecrystal... For example, I'm pretty sure nobody here adds cyanide or tar or any of the other toxins & carcinogens found in cigarettes to their firewood before having a campfire. Its not so much the smoke, its the crap in the cigarettes that burns in the smoke...

Oooh, oooh! Are we going to get into the smoking debate again? Yippee!!!

The irony I see is that the one place (amusement parks) that serve some of the least healthy most damaging food available for human consumption - the same foods that are processed and contain just as many damaging chemicals as cigarettes or tons of heart stopping fats or little to no nutritional value are worried about outdoor smoking.

The same place that has acres of cars that you must navigate spouting things much worse, much more damaging and in much larger quantities than any cigarette ever could.

If the biggest health issue you have in life is that someone might smoke a cigarette in an open outdoor area in your general vicinity - then I wish I had your life (or at least was blind enough to ignore the more obvious things that kill me everyday) :)

I agree Shane, there's a bit more content to cigarette smoke than a campfire. Besides if I'm next to a campfire it is because I choose to be there. Just like when I go outdoors I choose to breath fresh air. When smokers light up, they take that choice and right away from me.

Walk behind me and inhale my farts for the length of the day and see how quickly you change your opinion about being able to smoke whereever you please.

But that crappy (yet sometimes yummy) food is not forced upon you. ;-)

Honestly, if people want to smoke that is their business, just keep it out of my face. I don't have a problem with "designated" smoking areas.

You just become more sensitive to it once you have stopped smoking yourself. :-)

The last thing thing I want to deal with is someone smoking in line.

-Tina

I was glad to hear Maureen hinting around to that as well. If strictly enforced, I know I would be very happy. I used to be able to tolerate smoke but I am really sick of it now and can't stand it.

The year Drop Zone opened up, I got into it with a smoker while standing in line. Everytime he blew his smoke, it would end up in my face. He was asked to quit by more than one person during the hour wait but he didn't stop. He started lighting up once again about 10 minutes before we were to ride. The smoke started blowing my way again so I asked him nicely to put it out. His reaction was so bad that it appeared that I called his wife a whore or something.

He said a few choice words and went on about how he has the right to smoke where he wants and when he wants. More people joined the argument and before we knew it, he was asked to put it out by a ride operator, then proceeded to get into it with the ride operator.

He ended up not riding. =:^)

-Sean

Gonch, for me it really isn't about the dangers of second hand smoke. I know I'm not going to die from sombody having a cigarette next to me. It's just an unpleasant thing for me as a non smoker to have to smell or taste cigarette smoke even if it is for a little bit of time walking behind someone on the midway. It's not always easy to walk to the other side of the midway on a crowded day.

People can smoke all they want, as far as I'm concerned. If you want to make that kind of decision about your own health, that's your business (though it certainly puts more burden on an already screwed up health care system).

However, if you think that it's "wide open" on the midways when there are 30,000 people in the park, not uncommon for a summer day at PKI or Cedar Point, you're hardly in any position to get away from midway smokers.

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Gonch, for me it really isn't about the dangers of second hand smoke. I know I'm not going to die from sombody having a cigarette next to me. It's just an unpleasant thing for me as a non smoker to have to smell or taste cigarette smoke even if it is for a little bit of time walking behind someone on the midway.

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The most reasonable response I've ever read. Thank you! :)

I'm totally against smoking in queue lines as well. I understand the unpleasantness to others due to the close proximity.

The unpleasant debate I cannot argue.

The health issue one of second hand smoke outdoors holds absolutely no water.

On an open midway - even a fairly corwded one - the smoke from a cigarette probably isn't reaching you lungs in most cases unless you're walking on top of someone for the entire duration that they're smoking. Then the limited amount that is, contains no more damaging residue than what's in the air already - especially as many parks are in developed areas, near major highways.

Sorry, but the whole "you're killing me against my will" argument feels so ridiculous to me.

I have to stand by my assesment that a non-smoker in a mobile group outdoor setting who maintains just a small, average, personal space respecting distance from the select part of the group who does smoke risks no more health damage than if the smokers are segregated. I have no stats to back that up other than my own personal 'common sense' and sadly, I doubt any study that proves it would ever be heard.

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...though it certainly puts more burden on an already screwed up health care system

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I'd argue that all the other things I mention as just as dangerous cause equal burden. Until we stop all human material consumption, go back to primitive lifestyles and live on water, plants and freshly killed prey (and even some would argue that red meat causes cancer) then there will always be factors that cause people's health to decline - little invisible things like stress and desk jobs full of inactivity and crap like that.

I'm of the mindset that the 'system' in general is the problem, not the millions of little things that keep it from running smoothly. Remove the 'system', reinstate free will, accept personal responsibility and watch how quickly things get sorted out. ;)

(Wow, I got just a little off there, huh?)

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The year Drop Zone opened up, I got into it with a smoker while standing in line. Everytime he blew his smoke, it would end up in my face. He was asked to quit by more than one person during the hour wait but he didn't stop. He started lighting up once again about 10 minutes before we were to ride. The smoke started blowing my way again so I asked him nicely to put it out. His reaction was so bad that it appeared that I called his wife a whore or something.

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See, that's just an asshole. Smoker or not - that's a case of being a jerk. Rude smokers suck as much as, if not worse than, anybody.

I see it as common courtesy. Like two cars headed in opposite directions on a one lane road. We make eye contact, a small motion, and both cars coexist peacefully. I'm smoking, you're not. I step away from you, the wind shifts, you step back, I move left - whatever.

If I'm respecting one's right not to be bothered by my smoke, then I would hope that person respected my right to smoke.

*** Edited 2/27/2005 7:33:06 PM UTC by Lord Gonchar***